The Licensing Act 1904 (

4 Edw. 7 This is a complete list of acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the year 1904. Note that the first parliament of the United Kingdom was held in 1801; parliaments between 1707 and 1800 were either Parliament of Great Britain, parliam ...

. c. 23) was a controversial act of the British Parliament regulating the closure of

public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

(pubs) in England and Wales. It was introduced by the Home Secretary, supported by Prime Minister

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (; 25 July 184819 March 1930) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary ...

and passed by his Conservative Party. The issue helped the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

win the

1906 United Kingdom general election The 1906 United Kingdom general election was held from 12 January to 8 February 1906. It is dubbed the "Liberal landslide": the opposition Liberal Party (UK), Liberals under Henry Campbell-Bannerman won a landslide victory against a bewildered C ...

by a landslide. The Licensing Act 1904 aimed to reduce the number of pubs. It proposed to compensate brewers for the cancellation of their licence, through a fund the brewers themselves would have to pay into. This led many Nonconformists who adhered to temperance (see

United Kingdom Alliance The United Kingdom Alliance (UKA) was a British temperance organisation. It was founded in 1853 in Manchester to work for the prohibition of the trade in alcohol in the United Kingdom. This occurred in a context of support for the type of law p ...

) to denounce it as a "brewers' bill". Meanwhile, the brewers themselves were generally dissatisfied, and they let their customers know.Paul Jennings, " 'Grasping a Nettle': The 1904 Licensing Act" in ''Biographies of Drink'' ed by Mark Hailwood and Deborah Toner (2015), pp.30–48.

Notes

* Jennings, Paul. " 'Grasping a Nettle': The 1904 Licensing Act" in ''Biographies of Drink'' ed by Mark Hailwood and Deborah Toner (2015) pp. 30–48
online
* Jennings, Paul. "Liquor licensing and the local historian: the 1904 Licensing Act and its administration", ''The Local Historian'', 39 (2009), pp.24–37. * Jennings, Paul. ''A History of Drink and the English, 1500-2000'' (Routledge, 2016). * Jennings, Paul. ''The local: A history of the English pub'' (The History Press, 2021). * Nicholls, James. ''The politics of alcohol: A history of the drink question in England.'' (Manchester University Press, 2013). pp 142–151. * Yeomans, Henry. ''Alcohol and moral regulation: Public attitudes, spirited measures and Victorian hangovers'' (Bristol University Press, 2014
online
* Yokoe, Ryosuke. "Alcohol and politics in twentieth-century Britain." ''The Historical Journal'' 62.1 (2019): 267–287
online

Primary sources

* ''The Annual Register 1904'' (Longmans, Green, 1905)

External links

Alcohol law in the United Kingdom Pubs in the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1904

See also

Notes

Further reading

Primary sources

External links